This invention relates to a baling machine and particularly one of the type comprising a cylindrical chamber or housing into which harvested material is fed and is rolled by belts within the housing into a large cylindrical bale.
Baling machines of this type have become very popular for various reasons in recent years and are widely used for baling harvested material from swaths. The operation is now well developed and the baling technique is very effective however a problem remains in relationship to the unloading of formed bales and the material which is fed during the unloading process.
The instruction manual for most baling machines of this type requires that prior to ejection of a formed bale, the baler be halted in its movement across the ground and the tractor reversed so as to back up the baler by about ten (10) feet. At this stage the housing is opened by pivotal movement of a rear section of the housing about a horizontal axis at the top of the housing so as to open at an opening provided at the bottom rear portion of the housing to allow the bale to escape. The front and rear portions thus operate somewhat in the form of a clamshell arrangement with the bale being ejected from the opened housing by the belts which form the bale within the housing.
With the bale ejected from the housing, the tractor can move forward so that the rear portion clears the bale and then can close the housing to restart formation of the next bale. During the forward movement, because of the previous backup, no material is fed into the baler for those ten (10) feet so that by the time the baler encounters fresh material for collection it is closed and ready to continue operation.
This operation is however unsatisfactory in that the operator has to stop and maneouver the tractor and baler which is undesirable and therefore the operator attempts to avoid it. This can cause a number of problems including contacting the bale with the rear portion as it closes, feeding material right through the front portion of the baler and out the opening which can waste material and furthermore material can be trapped between the two portions of the housing as they close and thus can inhibit the proper formation of a bale within the housing and can cause jamming of the feed mechanism into the housing.
Proposals have been made in U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,922 (Todd) and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,352 (Swenson) both of which propose spring-mounted tines which are normally biased into position which inhibits movement of material from the feed mechanism into the housing. The spring tines are then depressed by the formation of the bale to a position where the formation can continue.
Both of these arrangements are concerned with the type of baler including an elongate inner belt run which extends substantially wholly around the interior surface of the housing and expands as the bale increases in size. Following ejection of the bale the elongate band is drawn inwardly relative to the inner surface of the chamber or housing. In addition both of the above devices are unsatisfactory in that they can interfere with the proper formation of the bale particularly in the type of device wherein the belts lie around the periphery of the housing and are formed by a number of separate belt runs as opposed to the continuous belt run which collapse into the interior of the housing when the bale is ejected.
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an improved bailing device which overcomes the disadvantages of the above arrangements.
According to the invention, therefore, there is provided a baling machine comprising a substantially cylindrical housing, means at a bottom front position of the housing for feeding crop material fromm a swath into the housing, the housing including a front portion and a rear portion, means mounting the rear portion on the front portion for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis arranged adjacent to the top of the housing so as to open at an opening at a bottom rear position of the housing to allow a formed bale to escape from the housing, belt means within the housing for forming the fed material into a bale, a plurality of tines movable from a retracted position in which they lie outside the belt means and do not interfere with the formation of the bale to a raised position in which they project inwardly of the belt means to engage material fed by said feeding means and means operatively associated with movement of said rear portion of the housing to and from an open position for moving said tines to and from the raised and retracted positions respectively.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a baling machine comprising a substantially cylindrical housing, a plurality of belt run portions arranged around an inner periphery of the housing in spaced relation to one another angularly of the housing defining a chamber, means at a bottom front position of the housing for feeding crop material from a swath into the chamber for rolling by the belt portions into a bale, the housing including a front portion and a rear portion, means mounting the rear portion on the front portion for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis arranged adjacent the top of the housing so as to open at an opening at a bottom rear position of the housing to allow a formed bale to escape from the chamber, one of the belt run portions including a plurality of separate belts spaced axially of the housing each having an inner run extending from said feeding means to said opening, a plurality of tines movable from a retracted position in which they wholly underlie the inner run of the belts to a raised position in which they project between the inner runs inwardly into the housing and means operatively associated with movement of said rear portion of the housing to and from an open position for moving said tines to and from the raised and retracted positions respectively whereby when the rear portion of the housing is opened the tines are moved to the raised position to halt the movement of material on said one belt run portion to said opening.
The tines can therefore can be operated by opening and closing of the clamshell front and rear portions so that when the rear portion is closed the tines are immediately retracted to a position underlying the lower belt so that they cannot interfere with the formation of the next bale.
This is particularly important in relation to the type of bailer using separate belt portions which remain around the periphery of the housing rather than collapsing to the interior of the housing since the projection of tines into the interior can interfere with the proper rolling of the material around the interior. Thus even if the tines can be compressed by the formation of the bale their presence during the initial portions of the bale formation can interfere with the proper formation of the bale.
With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, the invention is herein described by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which includes a description of the best mode known to the applicant and of the preferred typical embodiment of the principles of the present invention, in which: